Documentary Films on Bangladesh by non-Bangladeshi Film Makers
A list of documentary films on Bangladesh was published in Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. This is the fifth installment. All documentaries in this list were made by non-Bangladeshi directors, producers, and production companies. It is not a review or not a critique of the documentaries – a mere list. This list is incomplete, so we will write on them as they come to our attention. The list here is in random order.
This group of documentary films is not entirely on Bangladesh. In a single documentary, Bangladesh was mentioned in a documentary as part of the issue presented. Bangladesh was presented in one of the episodes of a series of documentaries.
The Human Scale
2012 • 83 Min • Denmark
Half of the human population lives in urban areas. By 2050, this will increase to 80%. Life in a megacity is both enchanting and problematic. Today, we face peak oil, climate change, loneliness, and severe health issues due to our way of life. But why? The Danish architect and professor Jan Gehl has studied human behavior in cities for four decades. He has documented how modern cities repel human interaction and argues that we can build cities in a way that considers human needs for inclusion and intimacy. ‘The Human Scale‘ meets thinkers, architects, and urban planners across the globe. It questions our assumptions about modernity, exploring what happens when we put people at the center of our planning.
Poverty, Inc.
2014 • 94 Min • USA
The West has positioned itself as the protagonist of the development narrative. However, the results have been mixed, sometimes even catastrophic, and developing world leaders have become increasingly vocal in calling for change. Drawing on perspectives gathered from over 150 interviews shot over four years in 20 countries, Poverty, Inc. explores the hidden side of doing good. From disaster relief to TOMs Shoes, from adoptions to agricultural subsidies, Poverty, Inc. follows the butterfly effect of our most well-intentioned efforts and pulls back the curtain on the poverty industrial complex – the multi-billion dollar market of NGOs, multilateral agencies, and for-profit aid contractors. Are we catalyzing development or propagating a system where the poor stay poor while the rich get hipper?
Plan B
2010 • 84 Min • USA
Narrated by Matt Damon, Plan B is a 90-minute documentary based on the book by environmental visionary Lester Brown. Shot on location around the world, the film’s message is clear and unflinching — either confront the realities of climate change or suffer the consequences of lost civilizations and failed states. Ultimately, Plan B provides audiences with a glimpse into a new and emerging economy based on renewable resources and strategies to avoid the growing threat of global warming. Appearing with Lester Brown are Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Friedman, former Governor and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, along with other scholars and scientists. Locations include China, Japan, South Korea, India, Italy, Turkey, Bangladesh, Zambia, Haiti, and the U.S.
Whores’ Glory
2011 • 110 Min • Germany & Austria
Whores’ Glory is an examination of the lives, needs, troubles, and hopes of prostitutes in Bangkok (Thailand), Faridpur (Bangladesh) and Reynosa (Mexico). The first part deals with the everyday work of prostitutes in Bangkok in a brothel called the Fish Tank. The prostitutes sit in a brightly lit glass room and are chosen by clients by the number used to identify them. The second part concerns a vast brothel called the City of Joy in Faridpur, Bangladesh. There, 600 to 800 women work in a confined space. In one scene, a madame buying a prostitute from another madame haggles over the price of the girl. The third part takes place in Reynosa, near the Texas border. There, it is expected, as in other Mexican cities, to designate the legal areas for prostitution as zonas de tolerancia (tolerance zones). The entrance to the Zona is secured with barriers and is constantly monitored by the police.
Let Them Eat Cake
2014 • 81 Min • USA
Six years in the making, filmed in a dozen countries, ‘Let Them Eat Cake‘ is a poetic film essay that runs the full range from the pleasures and perils of overeating to the tragedies of world hunger.
Let Them Eat Cake is not your typical documentary. It is a poetic essay that takes you through twelve countries, exploring the contrast between pastry making and consumption in various parts of the world. While in some parts of the world, those who farm the ingredients for pastries can’t even afford them, in Paris, Tokyo, and Los Angeles, lavish pastries adorn the shelves of pastry shops along the streets. Written and directed by award-winning director Alexis Krasilovsky, Let Them Eat Cake addresses the planetary emergency of too little food while seducing the viewer with the lavish traditions and beauty of pastry and cake-making that call us back to our childhood roots.
ManIslam – Islam and Masculinity
2014 • 58 Min • Norway
‘ManIslam – Islam and Masculinity‘ is a voyage into understanding the masculinities of Islam. Why does a man in Kuwait inspired by the 99 names of Allah and the Quranic stories create comics about superheroes called the 99? Why does a man in Bangladesh travel from one village to another and teach the community how to play a board game? Why does a man in Indonesia encourage other men to wear mini shirts in a demonstration? They all have the same target. They will change the dark side of the masculinities in their cultures by playing games.
Years of Living Dangerously
2014 • 58 Min/episode • USA
Years of Living Dangerously is a documentary in 9 episodes about worldwide climate change and global warming. Bangladesh was extensively covered in episode 8 (A Dangerous Future) and episode 9 (Moving a Mountain). From the damage wrought by Hurricane Sandy to the upheaval caused by drought in the Middle East, this groundbreaking documentary event series provides first-hand reports on those affected by and seeking solutions to climate change.
In episode 8, Michael C. Hall travels to Bangladesh to see how climate change will impact workers and the poor in developing countries in the coming decades, when a projected 150 million people will be forced to leave their homes to escape sea level rise and increased drought, insect-borne disease, and flooding. In episode 9, Hall concludes his journey to Bangladesh, where rising seas are expected to submerge 17% of the country.
Don’t Tell My Mother
Producer: Diego Buñuel
Don’t Tell My Mother is a television program hosted by Diego Buñuel and shown on the National Geographic Adventure channel. In this documentary’s episode of season 2, Dhaka was presented as a destination. Dhaka is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Amidst the busy streets, energetic creativity bubbles up in the most unlikely places. Diego begins his adventure in Dhaka, where the term urban jungle is given new meaning. In this area, Macaque monkeys have taken control.
Toughest Place To Be A…
2012 • 58 Min • UK
Toughest Place To Be A… is a BBC Two television documentary that offered various working or retired professionals in the United Kingdom a different and more challenging working environment in the same profession they worked in.
Bangladesh was presented in Series 3, episode 2. 57-year-old Colin Window, the bridge officer of the Woolwich Ferry, travels to Dhaka, Bangladesh, to train and work as a ferryman on the Buriganga River. Hosted by 70-year-old Muhammed Loteef in one of the city’s slums, Colin is introduced to his new vessel, a small wooden rowboat known as a Sampan. In temperatures of up to 40 degrees, Sampan operators row passengers and goods across the quarter-mile stretch of river every day, dodging the huge barges and passenger ships that dominate the Buriganga. As Mr Loteef shows Colin how to master the sampan, he meets the other people who live and work on the river and have seen it transformed by sewage, rubbish, and industrial waste. Once the lifeblood of a traditional fishing community, the Buriganga is now officially a dead river.
However, the changes to Buriganga are just a glimpse of the transformations disrupting life in Bangladesh. Every day, some 2000 people leave their villages and travel to Dhaka, desperate for work, as traditional professions such as farming are threatened by climate change. Yet even in Dhaka, over a quarter of a million children live rough on the city streets.
After ten training days, Colin faces his final challenge: operating the Sampan alone during rush hour, taking passengers, and dodging huge ships.